Summary: Building a community vocational center for families in the Lancetilla Botanical Garden. This would include the addition of a classroom to start sewing classes in 2018-2019.

In the last four years, Dos Rios Elementary, a Greeley-Evans School, has been providing supplies for students and teachers in four schools in Tela, Honduras. In summer 2017, a group of teachers and one Rotarian left for Honduras to work in the Lancetilla Botanical Gardens and to assist local workers with classroom modifications. The classroom addition was made possible through funds provided by members of the Greeley Centennial Rotary, Craig Rotary and the Greeley After Hours Rotary Clubs. The Josefa Lastiri Morazan School is located adjacent to the botanical garden. This school serves 75 students grades K-5 and 45 secondary students grades 6-9 on weekends. The second school is Escuela Lempira, located about a 30 minutes hike from the botanical garden. This school serves 45 students grades K-5. The third school in our project is Escuela Jose Trinidad Cabañas located about 25 minutes from the botanical garden. This school serves 45 students grades K-5. The fourth school is the Escuela Santos Juan Moncada that serves 35 students grades k-5.

While visiting with the local people during the recent summer trip, the Rotarian and teachers recognized that school uniforms are a significant area of need for the students. Uniforms are required for all students to attend school. If students attend school without school uniforms, teachers risk losing their jobs. We observed many families who could not afford uniforms, and thus, their children were denied the opportunity to attend these public, government-operated schools. Many additional children have uniforms that are in disrepair and need mending or alterations. The population of these four schools is growing and many families cannot afford to send their students to school because they cannot afford uniforms or school supplies. Many of these students walk 25-30 minutes to get to school each day.

The purpose of these requested grant funds is to build a modest educational building on the site of the centrally located Josefa Lastiri Morazan School to provide an adult teacher center and to securely house the sewing equipment. A vocational sewing center will provide opportunities to empower families to learn the skill of sewing to make new uniforms and reparations to existing uniforms. Having the proper facility in which to centrally teach sewing groups and to sew will be essential to the sustainability of this project. Additionally, the sewing center will provide opportunities for community members and parents to leverage their new skills for economic gain with future projects.

We will also work on outreach with the Honduras Rotary clubs in Tela and La Ceiba to build future partnerships. We are planning another working trip in the coming year and may include additional Rotarians from the Greeley and Craig areas. The intent is to make contact with the two Rotary clubs close to the schools in Honduras to foster relationships and ensure the sustainability of the vocational project.

At a minimum within the first year, the project will benefit about 30 families in the area of Lancetilla Botanical Garden. Family and community members will also benefit by having shared use of the community resources for after-school events and community gatherings. This project will support educational opportunities for approximately 80 students who are currently attending the botanical garden schools. The facility will provide a learning and working space. It will also establish a dynamic space for future vocational initiatives in these communities for years to come.

Dos Rios Elementary School, located in Evans, Colorado, initiated outreach efforts to the first school in the botanical gardens in 2013. This included sending medical supplies, school supplies, kitchen serving utensils, clothing and shoes. During the initial visit, two teachers from Dos Rios traveled to the schools to present the teachers and students with supplies and to engage the local community in a partnership. A needs assessment was also conducted at this time to evaluate future opportunities for improvement. Since that time, we have sent additional supplies (school supplies, clothing and shoes) each year. The Dos Rios staff has engaged the local parent and student community in fundraising efforts to ship three boxes of supplies annually (about 1,500 pounds of materials). We also sought to engage our Dos Rios learners to increase awareness for the needs of the Honduran schools and broaden our students' world view to be more globally minded about the needs of other children in the world. In June 2017, Dos Rios staff, which included a Greeley Centennial Rotarian, travelled together to the three schools to build a classroom addition to one of the schools, paint, and create a sustainable garden project to increase the nutritional content of their daily meals. In 2017-2018, additional Rotary projects in this area of Honduras have included furniture, clean stoves, electric and solar projects at all four schools.

As our local Rotary clubs have increased their awareness of the wants and needs of the Honduran schools, we have increased our collective interest in supporting our collaborative efforts to establish a working relationship with the local Honduras Rotary clubs for the future. Contact was made in spring 2018, thanks to the support of Jim Epstein.

Reported
This project is "Reported". This means that a report has been forwarded for review to the district leadership. This report is now being reviewed by the district leadership for approval. Once the report is accepted, the status of the project will be changed to "Completed".

You still need to upload a detailed budget of income and expenses in $ to the documents section. Also can you add a basic plan for the building that you can also upload to the documents section.

25-May-18

by Matthew Thompson

System Entry: Creation of project page.

1-Jun-18

by Matthew Thompson

System Entry: Project sent for club signatures.

1-Jun-18

by Matthew Thompson

System Entry: Project signed by Matthew Thompson.

5-Jun-18

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Romia Pritchett.

8-Jun-18

by Randall Looper

The District will approve your project once your PE has completed the grant qualification traning found on the District website.

14-Jun-18

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Evelyn Stiefle.

21-Jun-18

by Matthew Thompson

System Entry: Project reverted to "Submitted" - Bill Kehl added to the list of signatories.

21-Jun-18

by Bill Kehl

System Entry: Project signed by Bill Kehl.

3-Jul-18

by Randall Looper

System Entry: Project approved by the District Approval Committee.

9-Jul-18

by Bill Kehl

System Entry: Check for DDF payment issued by Foundation Treasurer.

4-Oct-18

by Randall Looper

Please provide a quarterly update as to the status of this project.

30-Oct-18

by Matthew Thompson

UPDATE: Initial funds have been disbursed for building construction materials. Increased precipitation has currently delayed construction due to ground water levels (tropical storms stemming from what developed into Hurricane Michael). Materials are secured.

12-Jan-19

by Randall Looper

Mat,

Please complete a history log with the status of this project.

13-Jan-19

by Matthew Thompson

Construction started on the vocational center this week. We are working with our Honduran contacts to firm up travel arrangements for our upcoming service trip during the window of March 7-14, 2019. Construction should be mostly completed by that time. We have approximately 4 Rotarians from the Greeley area and one possible from the Craig area who will travel.